Separator for ball-bearings.



H. HESS. SEPARATOB FOR BALL BEARINGS.

Patented J an 23, 1912.

APILIOATION FILED FEB. 13,1909

UNITED STATES "PATENT T I HENRY HESS, on WAWA, PENNSYLVANIA, As'sIeNon To THE HESS-BRIGHT MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

siirARA'ron non BALL BEANINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Jan'.;'2,3,i912,

application filed February-13,119.09 :Seria1N0.-477,742.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Hess, a citizen of the United States, residing at WVawzuQin the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Separators for Ball- Bearings, of which the following is a speci-:

fication, reference being had the-rein to the accompanying drawlng. I

My invention relates to Separators for ball bearings, and more particularly to the tele-, scopic class thereof consisting of a plurality of sections and a spring tending to, force them apart. I have, found in practice that with separators of this type thereis a tendency at times for the: parts to become do;- tached, thus causing the dismemberment of the separator, and if this occurs during ac-i tual operation, it occasions not only the de struction of the separator but probably also grave injury to the bearing itself. In normal operation under load it quite frequently occurs that the balls are not equally spaced, and that some of them in certain parts of the raceway are much closer to each other than are other balls in other portions of the raceway. This condition is most apt to'happen when the separators employed arefun- I avoid the extreme irregularity in the spac-' ing of the balls above described. Such extreme collapsibility is ordinarily attribut able to the largeamount of compression ere:

quired for the purpose of introducing the separator between the casingrings', and a prominent feature of my present invention is therefore the construction of a separator which may be introduced into the raceway with the minimum amount of compression. Another advantage arising fromthis form of construction is that the small play decidedly reduces thestress on the springs so that they retain their elastic life for a much greater period.

I have shown my invention as embodied in a type. of bearing, wherein it is illustrated in a preferred form,- but. I do not confine it 1' to this particular typeand' vobviously other I forms may be devised. to effect the same 're- 3 sults. Generally speaking,-I desire it to be understood that my invention is not limited Tto any specific formaor arrangement: of

mltatlons 1 parts, except in"so faras such are specified in theclaims.

Referring to the drawing: Figurel is 2,13 c

viewlpartlygin section of a separator embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a side view the application of I my 7 Figs; 3 and dare sectional details.

of a ballbearing, partly in section, showing eparator thereto, and

1 70, t Tliebearing comprises an outer ring A, :an-inner ring 13, formed respectively with the tracks or ways a, b,'wherein are locatedv the balls C C, all inthe customary and well-known manner. Between the balls (1 6, and also located in the tracks orways a, b, are the separators DD, which are-the I fsubjectmatter of the present invention;

Referring first to the earlier form of sepafrator this consists of two telescopic sections normally forced apart by an inclosed spring and provided at its ends and in; di-

rect contact with the balls with enlarged portionsor disks, whichdisks have substan-" tiallythe same. diameter asthe balls and which engage in the racewaycand are there'- by retained in assembled position. In or: v derto introduce this .form or separator into the bearing, itis compressed by a suit able tool or otherwise and inserted between the rings, and after its introductionitis turned through arightangle and permitted totake its normal position betweenthe balls. In order to be turned .intothe raceway after having been passed through the rings, it is obvious that it must be compressed enough so that'no. portion of it will lie" outside of an imaginary sphere corresponding to one that will approximately .fillthe raceway;

but as these disks are located at the extreme ends of the separator, its compression for the purpose of introducing, it into the raceway in the mannerv previously described must be very great,a'ndlit-is this feature of construction which, subsequently permits the similar extreme'compression of the sepa'ra-g tor when mounted in its assembled'relation tothe balls. To obviate this disadvantage, my improvement consists mainly in locating the disks D D onthe separator D, at?

loo i some little distance from the contacting ends thereof, as shown in Fig. 1. In this manner I avoid the extreme compression of the separator D, aswill be clearly seen from an inspection of Fig. 2, wherein the imaginary sphere is represented by the dotted line D In order to reduce the size of the separator D to a compass which will bring it within the imaginary sphere D and to permit its introduction into the raceway, a materially less amount of compression is required, and the parts are therefore so arranged as to afford no more compressibility than is necessary for the-purpose mentioned, Figs. 3 and 4 showing respectively the position of the separator during its insertion between the rings and when subsequently turned into place in the raceway. The immediate result ofthis construction is that when located in operative relation to the balls, the collapsibility of the separator D will be similarly limited, and the greater range possible in the earlier form of separator will be avoided, thus insuring the more uniform spacing of the balls and obviating the liability todisconnection of the parts with its attendant disadvantages as previously described. And as also before mentioned, the smaller play of the separators materially reduces the strain on the springs and thus increases their durability.

Evidently many variations will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and I do not limit myself to the exact embodiment of the invention shown, which I have illustrated only in a preferred form, as many equivalents are equally comprised within its scope.

Having thus described my invention, its construction and mode of operation, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. A separator for ball bearings, comprising a plurality of telescopic sections and resilient means tending to force the sections apart, each of the sections being formed with a portion to engage in the raceway of the bearing and with its outer or ball-engagin g end of smaller size than that of said portion.

2. A separator for ball bearings, comprising a plurality of telescopic sections and resilient means tending to force the sections apart, the said sections being formed with projecting portions located at a distance from the ends of the separator and designed to engage in the raceway of the bearing.

3. A separator for ball bearings, comprising two telescopic sections and resilient means tending to force the sections apart, the said sections being each formed with a projecting disk or flange located at a distance from the ends of the separator and designed to engage in the raceway of the bearing.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' HENRY HESS. lVitnesses NETTIE L. HAHN, MARY MCALLA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

